


You and Me

by psychoroach



Category: Power Rangers Time Force
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Multi, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 16:15:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18944467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychoroach/pseuds/psychoroach
Summary: The Time Force Rangers come back together.





	You and Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jen425](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/gifts).



> I had a lot of fun writing this. I had to stop eventually, because I thought I would just overly complicate things and it would go from a one shot to novel length. I hope you like it though!

Trip flopped down beside Lucas, watching as Wes and Cole were arm wrestling each other. The two had been in competition (friendly as it was) since the two teams had defeated the MutOrgs and had gotten together to celebrate with the picnic. The race they'd had ended in a tie, and then Wes had proceeded to show Cole how to thumb wrestle (which he lost). If it progressed any more, they'd probably wind up actually wrestling. It was equal parts amusing and eye roll inducing, but Lucas was having quite the time watching them make idiots of themselves at least. He flicked his eyes over at Trip when the Xybrian didn't say anything right off and saw him staring at him.

"What, Trip?" He asked finally.

"When are we going to tell Wes and Eric?" He asked.

"I don't know." Lucas admitted. "We only just found out that we're staying, I guess it'd be up to Jen." Even though command had replaced them as Time Force officers so they could go back in time and stay there, Lucas would always feel like he had to defer to Jen on some things. "You should ask her."

"Yeah, but like...it's cool, right? I mean, I didn't think we'd ever see them again, and then we were told that time had changed and we were supposed..." Trip rambled on before Lucas put a hand up to stop him.

"Don't!" He said quickly. "You know we're not supposed to look at it too closely. If we do..."

"Things could change." Trip finished quietly.

"Yeah. None of us want that." Lucas pointed out. "So just...it'll be brought up when Jen decides it needs to be. Sometime before we send Ransik back to prison and Nadira goes with him I'm sure."

"I guess." Trip muttered, before he lit up again. "It's just so cool and I'm so excited I could burst!"

Trip jumped when he felt someone sit down next to him, which was also behind him considering he was turned toward Lucas and his eyes widened when he saw the bare arm that came across his shoulder. He turned and saw Wes sitting next to him. He'd slipped off the button up he'd thrown on over the wife beater he had on and it was tied around his waist. "What are you excited about, Trip?"

"Uh..." He trailed off, trying to think of a good lie.

"Getting to try all of the junk food we missed from this time." Lucas cut in smoothly, grabbing a piece of a cookie he had sitting on his left over plate next to him, stuffing it in Trip's mouth, holding onto it until the Xybrian started chewing and nodding.

Wes laughed. "Well hey, if you were staying here, you could have all the cookies you want."

"Buh we a..." Trip said around the cookie, causing Lucas to kick him in the shin. Hard. "Owww!"

Wes eyed the two of them. "You're acting really suspicious."

Jen walked over and sat down, rolling her eyes. "That's because Trip wants to tell you we're staying here in 2002, and Lucas is trying to get him to not say anything because he's afraid it'll warp time." She said knowingly. She gave Lucas a look. "There's no use, it's not going to do anything, we ran several tests to make sure, and we had to say something sometime. He would've noticed when we didn't go back to the year 3000 with Ransik and Nadira."

"What?!" Wes asked, eyes wide as he looked between the three of them. "You're staying here? For how long?"

"Perman'ly!" Trip beamed, bits of cookie spraying from his mouth in his excitement.

Wes laughed loudly, exuberantly, pulling Trip close in a one armed hug. "Oh that's awesome! I mean...what...how..."

"When you mess with time travel, that means some things in the timeline can change." Jen explained, since she knew more about it than Trip and Lucas. "When it was determined I was going to come back and try and take down the MutOrgs, I sat down with higher officers at Time Force and we looked the timeline over, and I won't bore you with details, but the timeline had changed, and basically...we're meant to stay in this time now, we're meant to be here."

"Oh man, that's...that's...I don't know what to say." Wes shook his head.

"I guess you can answer whether or not the clock tower is still free." Lucas piped up, although he didn't look too happy at the prospect of living at the clock tower again. It was bad enough the first time.

Wes made a face. "No, I mean yes, I..." He looked over toward the others, still holding Trip against him, his eyes scanning around until he saw where Eric was. The Quantum Ranger was antagonizing Taylor, holding a book she'd been reading, and dramatically reading a passage from it out loud as she attempted to either get her book back, punch him, or both. Wes snorted and rolled his eyes. "Eric, come here!"

Eric looked over at him and made a face, probably at the fact that Wes was ruining his 'fun' and tossed the book at Taylor before casually walking over. "What?"

"Guess what." He said, beaming up at him.

He eyed him. "I'd rather not. Just tell me."

Wes snickered. "Jen, Trip, Lucas and Katie are staying in this time. Permanently."

Eric's eyebrows shot up, and he didn't outwardly react, but it was obvious he was pleased by the news. He folded his arms over his chest. "Oh really?"

"Yeah." Wes looked around. "We should get going anyway, why don't we take them home? Let them settle in."

Eric looked at the others. "You got bags and things? I assume you didn't just come with the clothes on your back."

"We do. We kept them all in the time ship." Trip explained.

"Ok well...let's go." Eric turned and started to the SUV he and Wes had driven everyone there in while the others gathered up Katie and said their goodbyes to the Wild Force Rangers. Jen trusted Ransik and Nadira to go back to 3000 so she just shared a look with the reformed villain and they nodded at each other before she made her retreat.

Wes drove the six of them to the outskirts of Silver Hills, nearing where Mariner Bay was, before he turned down a residential area and pulled up in front of a house that was 1700 square feet sitting on 20 acres of land. It was a Queenslander type house that had an attached garage under the left side of the porch.

Lucas whistled as he leaned forward to check the house out. "Wow, this is a step or two up from the clock tower. How are you two affording this?"

Eric smirked as he opened the car door once Wes parked in the garage. "The Silver Guardians pays well."

Wes rolled his eyes. "My dad paid for it." He corrected. "He saw that I liked my independence when I lived in the clock tower and he offered to get this place for Eric and I to have. All we have to do is pay the bills on it, and well groceries and whatever we need...clothes and...whatever."

"Way to explain it, Collins. Come on." Eric got out and led the way inside, putting in a code on the pad out beside the front door, letting them in. The front room was a living room and it definitely didn't look like a normal bachelor pad. It wasn't as opulent as the house Wes grew up in, but it was on the nicer side. It was a wide open floor plan with a mock rock wall on one side that housed a flat screen tv, while the wall beside it was a mock wood and had a bookcase built into it. In front of it was two couches next to each other. Scattered in the middle of the room were a few smaller coffee tables scattered with different things. In front of the rock wall there was two burnt orange chairs, and across from that was a love seat.

"This place is incredible!" Trip exclaimed, looking around excitedly, wide eyed as he took everything in.

"There's only three bedrooms." Wes said apologetically. "Eric and I share one, it won't be too bad to double up will it?"

"Of course not." Katie smiled at him. "It'll be like we're back at Academy." She looked at Jen. "Roomies?"

"Yes." Jen nodded. She looked at Wes. "Do you want to show us the bedrooms?"

Wes smiled and let them gather their bags, taking them upstairs. He opened one of the rooms and walked inside. "Here's the first one, ladies, I feel like this is right up your alley." The bedroom featured one wall that was the same fake wood look as the living room while the other three were plain white. The floor was white tile and had a large white area rug. Two beds sat along the fake wood wall, and both had benches on the end of them. Along one of the plain walls was a painting that said La Vita Bella and next to it in a corner was a knit hammock with some knit bean bag type chairs in front of it.

He left them to get settled in and took Trip and Lucas to the other bedroom. The walls were a grey color that matched the floor, and they had a fake marble effect. Thick wood beams were on the ceiling and a thick wood cabinet with a dark stain and gold fixtures held a tv. Along one side was a split bed that seemed like two beds pushed close together and along the opposite wall was a small loveseat in a robin's egg blue color. Behind it was a multicolored buffalo painting.

Jen met Wes as he came out of the bedroom, folding her arms over her chest. "So what does your bedroom with Eric look like? Or is it private?" She asked.

Wes laughed quietly and gestured for her to follow him and he flipped open the last door, gesturing playfully for her to go in. Two of the walls had rustic looking stone all over them and one had a fireplace built into it (although it was California, you really didn't need a fireplace in California). The bed was big and fluffy looking with thick pillows and had a lamp hanging down from one of the thick wood beams that crisscrossed the ceiling. Two thick salmon colored chairs sat across the room in front of a window that was in the corner that overlooked the backyard. It wasn't at all what she expected, but it was nice.

"Well, what do you think?" He asked, after she'd looked her fill.

"It's nice." She said, not commenting on there being only one bed. She flashed him an enigmatic smile and turned to walk back downstairs.

Wes headed to the kitchen where Eric was off in what was probably supposed to be a breakfast nook, but had been turned into an area where Eric kept a cage for his finches. After giving his first birds away to his neighbor, he missed having some around, and didn't want to take them back, so he'd talked it over with Wes and had gotten six little zebra finches he kept in the area because it was temperature controlled and they wouldn't get too loud for the other parts of the house (not that they were particularly loud birds anyway, Wes enjoyed their little chirping noises). He watched Eric spritz the birds with a water bottle, a content look on his face and smiled. After a stressful day, Eric came home to the birds and it seemed to help reset him.

"Everyone settling in ok?" Eric asked, without turning to face him.

Wes startled out of his thoughts and covered up the fact that he'd been staring at Eric by opening the fridge, taking out a small bottle of orange juice. He fiddled with it a bit before cracking it open, sipping at it. "Yeah, they seem to be ok. Of course everyone's probably tired out from...you know, everything."

"I know I am." He walked over to Wes, swiping his juice, taking a sip, handing it back. "I know I may not seem like it, but I am glad they're here."

He laughed softly, putting his hand on Eric's chest. "I know, I've learned to read you by now."

"God forbid." He quipped.

He smirked. "What? Are you angry that I managed to break through your defenses?"

"You didn't break through my defenses." Eric scoffed. He rolled his eyes and smirked back at Wes. "You sort of stumbled through them like a bull in a china shop."

Wes swatted at him. "Whatever you say, Eric." He quipped. "I'm going to go take a shower." He reached up and stretched, grunting softly. "I've had my fill of today, I am about to crash."

"I'm right there with you." Eric agreed. "I'm just glad it's all over."

"You and me both." Wes leaned in and pecked his cheek, smiling at him for a second before he turned and walked out of the room.

The ex-Time Force Rangers settled in easily over the next few days. Katie and Jen managed to get on with the Silver Guardians, and they were doing a great job with them. Trip and Lucas mostly just stayed at home and meandered around the area, not really in a hurry to find jobs and settle in. It was ok, though, because once Wes introduced Lucas to the riding lawn mower, he found that he actually had fun mowing the lawn, as strange as Wes and Eric thought it was. 

One day Wes came in and saw Lucas coming in from doing the lawn, wearing a pair of ugly cut off jeans. He smirked when he saw Trip looking Lucas over very bluntly, and his eyebrows shot up when Lucas went over and kissed Trip, playfully leaning into him until Trip yelped and pushed him away, complaining that he was 'getting sweat all over me, dude!' That was an interesting development. As was the next day when he saw Jen and Katie come out of the break room at the Silver Guardians base looking...disheveled. 

Eric told him it was none of his business when Wes came to him about it, and Wes acquiesced his point, but also pointed out that he could be interested in...something as well. 

Eric eyed him. "You want to be in a polyamorous relationship with the ex-Time Force Rangers?" 

"Don't you? You know you do." Wes said. "I've seen the way you eye Jen when you spar with her, hell, I see the way she eyes you back. I know you wear those tank tops on purpose, and no one needs to raise their shirt to wipe sweat from their brow that much." 

"I won't confirm or deny anything." Eric smirked at him in a smart ass sort of way, walking away from him, barking out some orders to some new Silver Guardians recruits. Wes made a face and fought the urge to flip him off behind his back. 

Eric sat in his SUV with Trip, watching a building a known criminal was known to hide out in, trying to bust the guy. At first he was very trepidacious about doing a stakeout with the Xybrian, but even though Trip could be chatty, and way too optimistic for Eric's taste, he was great on the job and could be very focused. Plus he was able to use his mojo Xybrian powers to tell Eric that the guy was _definitely_ in the building. So it was just a matter of time before they nailed his ass. 

Soon after they'd parked, the guy came strutting out and Eric was on the move. He took him down quickly and indulged Trip in a high five before hauling the criminal back to the SUV. Once they got him dropped off at Silver Guardians, Trip looked at Eric curiously. 

"What?" He asked. 

"It's almost lunch, I'm hungry." He said honestly.

Eric looked at his watch and swore under his breath. "That took longer than I thought." Wes' words from before came to him and he cocked his head. "Come on, I know a place with curly fries and milkshakes." 

"Are you...like...asking me out?" Trip asked as he followed him like an adorable puppy. 

"What if I am?" Eric asked without answering.

He grinned widely. "I accept. You know, Lucas, Jen, and Katie want...wait...time change." 

"They want to fold Wes and I into whatever it is the four of you have going." Eric looked over at him as he opened the door to the SUV.

"Yeah." Trip said a little sheepishly. 

Eric grinned slightly. "Well you'll have to tell them they have to be blunt with me if they want anything from me, and make sure Jen knows she'll have to woo Wes." 

"Woo..." Trip repeated, making a face. He scampered around to the other side of the SUV and got in quickly as Eric was starting it up. "Since like...this is a date and all, does that mean you're going to kiss me at the end of it?" 

"I might." Eric said, driving them off toward Arby's. 

Jen approached Wes who was cleaning out Eric's bird cage. Why he got roped into doing it, he didn't know, but it never failed that he changed out the newspaper in the bottom every damn time. He looked up and flashed her a small smile, watching her hands go to her hips. 

"How do you like to be wooed?" She asked bluntly.

"Huh?" He asked, dropping the water bottle he was attempting to latch onto the side of the cage. "Shit!" he grabbed it before it could leak out too much and put it in, closing the cage before any of the birds could escape, they were a bitch to catch when they got out. 

"Eric told Trip that if we wanted you to be a part of our relationship, you needed to be wooed." Jen explained. "So...how do you like to be wooed?" 

Wes laughed incredulously. "I never thought about it." He said honestly. "I guess...the normal ways? I mean, I like dates, and talking with each other, you know, deep intimate stuff." 

"I swear if you say walks on the beach I'm going back to the future." Jen huffed.

Wes grinned. "Nah that's not my thing. I like the beach, but it's...you know. Just for a beach day, not as a part of a date." 

"I can work with that." Jen decided. "Be ready for a date at 1900 hours." She turned and walked off.

Wes sputtered a bit and made a face. "What time is that?" 

"7 PM." Trip offered as he walked through the kitchen to grab something to snack on, reading from a book that was labeled '1001 Ways to Open Up An Introvert'. 

"Oh...uh, Trip, what's that for?" He asked.

"I'm wooing Eric." He explained.

Wes laughed incredulously again. "Eric isn't an introvert. He's just a jackass. He's actually an extrovert, just not in the normal ways you'd think." 

"So give me some pointers. What do I do?" Trip asked. 

Wes thought it over. "Just...talk. He doesn't like talking a lot, but he does listen. He may seem annoyed, but that's his default. When he does talk, listen. He doesn't like if someone seems like they're blowing him off. Don't come on too strong, it makes him uncomfortable. Hell, he and I have only been together officially like five months, I worked so slow..." 

Trip eyed him. "You're weirdly open to all of this changing." 

Wes shrugged. "I'm capable of loving more than one person at a time." 

Trip smiled at him and leaned over, kissing him before Wes could react. "Love you, too." He chirped, walking out of the room.

Wes laughed to himself. "That's...not what I was talking about...but if I'm honest with myself, I could learn to..." He glanced over at the bird cage. "I'm talking to you guys. I don't know if that makes it any better, but..." 

Later on that day, after Jen had cornered Eric and told him they were having a date night at 1900 hours that night, Eric showered and dressed in what he thought was an acceptable outfit of a pair of black pants and a butter yellow button up. It still felt weird to not wear maroon all the time, but he was trying to break himself of the habit. He walked out of the bathroom into the main bedroom and saw Wes dressing as well. He had on dark was jeans and was putting on a light wash denim shirt.

Eric groaned and walked over, yanking the shirt off of him.

"Hey! The hell, dude?" He yelped. 

Eric didn't answer, just handed Wes a soft cotton grey shirt that buttoned about half way and gave him a look like 'put it on'. 

Wes sighed and slipped it on, buttoning all but the top three buttons. "Better?" 

"Better." Eric promised. 

They walked to the living room and saw Jen there wearing a tan skirt and a white shirt and she ushered them out back, confusing both men. They saw Katie pulling a table in place, wearing a deep red dress of course, while Lucas was helping Trip string up fairy lights. Lucas was in all black and Trip was in a bright orange shirt and black pants. It worked for him, weirdly enough. 

"Grab those." Jen gestured to where she'd laid out three picnic baskets. Wes grabbed two and Eric grabbed the last one, taking them over to the table where Jen laid out the food and drinks. They sat down once Lucas and Trip were finished and started passing the food back and forth. 

It was a nice night, and conversation flowed freely, as did the wine. At one point they were talking about pretty deep stuff and Lucas asked Wes about his relationship with his dad. 

"He passed not long ago actually." Wes said quietly, looking at his wine glass. "But, uh...it was pretty good up until then. Better than it had been in a while actually. So I can't really complain. I'm just glad we got the time together that we did. He smiled when Eric put a hand on his thigh and Jen put her arm around him lightly. 

Things got lighter after that, until Eric asked Trip about his family. 

"I, uh, don't really know them." He said honestly. "But, Time Force became my family." 

"We just can't get away from the landmines tonight." Eric muttered, pulling Trip against his side, giving him a kiss to the temple in apology. It was a very...soft Eric sort of move, and even though Wes got to see those moments a lot lately, it was still a shock that he was so open so quickly with the others. 

They finished up their food and drinks and Wes went and grabbed his iPod, putting it in the speaker dock. He scrolled through some of his playlists and finally found one labeled 'chill night in' and started it. As the soft strains of Edwin McCain started up, he pulled Jen up, asking her to dance with him. He turned her around and smiled when he saw Eric doing the same with Trip, while Katie shot Lucas a glare when he opened his mouth. It made Wes snicker softly.

"You know, when we went back...it was like...something was missing." Jen said quietly, bringing his focus back to her. "I know the others felt it, too." 

"Eric and I definitely have." Wes said honestly. "We've been very happy together, but...I feel...whole with all of you here again. Don't...don't leave, ok? Please...please don't leave me again. I'm not sure I could take it." 

Jen reached up and caught the tear before it leaked from Wes' eye and smiled gently at him. 

"I'm not going anywhere." She promised. "Besides, you promised Katie you'd teach her to bowl, I can't take her from that." 

He smiled and chuckled. "Definitely, I'm looking forward to that." 

Eric came up to them then and cleared his throat, gesturing. "May I?" 

"Sure." Wes stepped back and he went over and pulled Lucas up, grabbing Trip as well. He respected Katie's wish not to do any dancing and he held the two other men close as they swayed in a three way embrace to You and Me by Lighthouse. 

"I'm glad you're back, for the record." Eric said after he and Jen had been dancing for a while. 

"I'm glad we are, too." She said honestly. "I...don't know what's going to happen. With all of this."

He smiled slightly at her. "That's the thing about fate, it happens how it's supposed to happen. You just have to go along for the ride." 

"I guess you're right about that." Jen agreed, laying her cheek on his shoulder as he spun her around gently while they danced.


End file.
